Tekken 6

A Lackluster Campaign Can’t Keep This Polished Fighter Down

Considering the first Tekken was released soon after the PSone’s
debut, and Tekken Tag Tournament accompanied the PlayStation 2 at the
console’s launch, it’s surprising to see the franchise make its
current-gen debut so far into the lifecycle. The wait has proved worth
it, as this sixth installment is the most refined since the almost
universally loved Tekken 3.

One of the first things you’ll notice
is the comically huge character select screen. For the standard arcade,
versus, and ghost battle modes, players have access to every fighter
from the very beginning. This includes dozens of returning favorites,
as well as some new faces. Apparently there’s a rule that every new
fighting game has to feature a fat, surprisingly agile blonde American,
as Tekken’s rotund Bob joins Street Fighter IV’s Rufus in this role.
Dr. Bosconovitch’s creation Alisa appears a polite young girl at first,
at least until her chainsaw arms and robot wings pop out (and it only
gets worse when she pulls off her own head and uses it as a weapon).

Newcomer
Lars is the focus of the new Scenario Campaign mode, which is the
weakest aspect of the game. Cutscenes are surprisingly long considering
they make little to no sense and feature (surprise!) a spiky-haired
protagonist with a case of amnesia. This mode has its own built-in
version of arcade mode, featuring CG endings for characters after a few
short fights. Going back to the lazy beat ‘em-up levels of Scenario
Campaign is rough after a few traditional one-on-one fights, as the
colorful and interesting locales of the latter are replaced by the
cut-and-paste docks and bland environments of the former.

Worst
of all, your movesets are castrated in the Scenario Campaign, which is
a shame considering how robust they are in standard fights. After
learning their various tweaks, Tekken veterans will feel right at home
with returning characters. Combat is focused on a heavy dose of combos
and juggling, although it’s still entirely possible for newbies to pull
out a win by frantic button mashing. Part of the fun of a fighting
sequel is learning the unique styles of the new combatants, and it’ll
take some time getting used to the snake-like kicks of Zafina or
Miguel’s quick and powerful combos.

Online play performs
relatively well compared to other fighters, but lag still rears its
ugly head every once in a while. However, the lag isn’t exactly choppy;
it’s more of an overall slowdown of the fights. Your inputs still
register as you intend, albeit a little slower than in single-player.
The overall online setup offers a few more features than Street Fighter
IV’s bare-bones approach, but it’s nothing substantial. Lobbies and
matches connect almost immediately, and you can even upload replays and
“ghosts” of your performances for others to download.

As a
fighting game, Tekken 6 proves why it’s been a consistent success for
over a decade. Controls and combos are incredibly tight, and the entire
package is dripping with polish. Despite the lackluster Scenario
Campaign, it’s still a solid purchase for fighting fans.

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User Reviews:

The first 10 min of the campain already lowered the score i knew about the fighting and its awsomeness but lets face it when it came to the campain thumbs down. The fighting was great, one problem was when versing my cousin he would only bash buttons causing me to get pissed and killed lots of times...

For those of you who buys the limited edition of tekken 6, you may be suprise to learn that the joystick is not the same as those joystick in the arcades. the base of the joystick is a square!..it doesn't rotate in a perfect circle, rather, it just clicks around..really hard to explain, but imma...